ANC
*ANC Statement, 22 June 2010* *National Working Committee Statement*The National Working Committee held its normal bi-weekly meeting on Monday 21 June 2010, at Luthuli House. The focus of the meeting was on the preparations for the National General Council in September 2010. The first draft discussion policy papers were tabled for consideration by the NWC. The NWC agreed that the process of consolidating these papers should continue and the next two Mondays be used by the NWC for refining all these policy papers in time for the next National Executive Committee meeting where all these NGC discussion documents will be signed off.
The meeting also received the report from the officials on the so-called Vavi matter. It is important that we first clarify the facts on this matter as it has been kept on the public domain for the past three weeks on the basis of a leak to journalists regarding discussions in the NWC meeting of 30 May 2010. In this meeting an issue was raised about the public pronouncements by members of the ANC who happen to be leaders in other alliance components.
These pronouncements which amounted to public spats also dragged names of other leaders through the mud. An observation was then made that on the part of the general secretary of COSATU, cde Zwelinzima Vavi, this has become a norm, wherein innuendo was used to caricature some unnamed leaders of the ANC as corrupt. In trying to qualify his pronouncements on corruption in the ANC, the names of cde Siphiwe Nyanda and Sicelo Shiceka were specifically mentioned whether voluntarily by comrade Vavi or in answering questions from journalists.
It was the view of the NWC that pronouncements by Cde Vavi have gone too far. The possibility of charging comrade Vavi was put as a possible option with the proviso that facts about this incident be investigated.
Having been seized with this matter for some time now the NWC has now decided that the following principles be clarified: -
* In terms of the ANC Constitution "all members, without exception,
must abide by the Constitution of the ANC, and the Rules and
Regulations, the Standing Orders and Codes of Conduct, as adopted
or amended from time to time, as well as all policies and
decisions properly adopted or made in terms of the Constitution".
This observation clarifies the question of whether the ANC can
charge comrade Vavi or not. There is no question of any member
being exempted from being charged on the basis of such a member
being a leader of another alliance partner. It is not COSATU that
is a member of the ANC but thousands of individual members who
have joined the ANC individually also in some instances joined
unions in their respective workplaces. There is no COSATU block
membership in the ANC.
* The history of our movement is full of names of comrades who were
charged whilst being leaders of the alliance component and
determination made about their behaviour and conduct within the
ANC. It is therefore being economical with facts and truth to say
it has never happened in the history of the alliance to charge
leaders of other alliance partners, including after the unbanning.
* There is therefore no question of the ANC being unable to charge
its members because they happen to be leaders of one or the other
alliance partner. These individual members are expected to defend
the congress movement irrespective of the company they find
themselves in.
Having made these observations the NWC decided that: -
* In dealing with this alien behaviour charging comrade Vavi will
not be the best route to take.
* This is a political problem that must be addressed as such.
* In dealing with this matter politically, COSATU will be engaged
directly and asked to abide by the decisions taken by the alliance
structures. COSATU will be asked to particularly observe our
decisions on stopping public spats and also the ease with which
fellow comrades or leaders are attacked in public.
* The generalisation in talking about corruption must end and all
the leaders of the movement must be specific in raising issues
particularly around corruption. Mentioning names of individual
comrades as corrupt without facts is dangerous in that when such
comrades are cleared the allegation will not disappear. The
example would be the isolation of comrade Siphiwe Nyanda as
corrupt for staying in a hotel while waiting for official
residence to be allocated by Public Works which applies to all
ministers and deputy ministers. We believe that such accusations
of corruption levelled against cde Nyanda and others in similar
circumstances, is stretching things too far, smacks of mischief
and is totally disingenuous.
* When any alliance partner has issues that are serious enough to
receive our attention, such a partner has a duty and
responsibility to engage with us before going public and be seen
to be attacking another partner.
* In future this behaviour by individual members of the ANC will be
closely monitored and there will be consequences whenever any
deviant behaviour is observed.
The NWC also took the opportunity to wish Bafana Bafana well in their
2010 FIFA World Cup encounter with France today.
The ANC remains confident that Bafana Bafana can still make the country proud. We are also pleased by the support that Bafana Bafana continues to receive from all South Africans.
South Africans have shown the entire world that they are good hosts, we are also confident that South Africa will continue to show this passion until the end of the FIFA World Cup. We are already winners as South Africa for hosting the most successful FIFA World Cup. LET'S HOLD OUR HEADS HIGH!!!
*Issued by: ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe African National Congress 54 Sauer Street Johannesburg 2001 Enquiries: Jackson Mthembu 082 370 8401 Ishmael Mnisi 082 333 5550* -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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